Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jonathan Papeldon stands on the mound after San Francisco Giants' Joaquin Arias hit a one run single in the ninth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, in Philadelphia. The Giants won 2-1. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr)

Interestingly enough, the Phillies didn’t bring him to Philadelphia on a $50 million contract for this — “this” being the way he has performed the last two months.

Some would describe it as lousy.

Thursday night, after Cole Hamels gave the Phillies not only eight masterful innings against the Giants, but also knocked in his team’s lone run, Papelbon entered to pitch on a night Brad Lidge was feted for his perfect performance as a closer in 2008.

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Four straight singles later, the lead was gone, the shrinking Citizens Bank Park crowd booed with the passion of a full house, and the Phils were on their way to a 2-1 loss.

It was the sixth blown save in the last 13 opportunities for Papelbon, who went from a closer that teams in need of experience in the ninth inning craved and the Phils weren’t willing to deal, to a poisonous albatross Ruben Amaro Jr. couldn’t give away at this point.

“Obviously I want to go in and preserve wins for these starters, man,” Papelbon said. “Because that’s what I take pride in. But some nights, you just go back in the dugout and you kind of scratch your head (and think), what just happened?

“It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s still a blown game at the end of the day.”

Not that it was all on Papelbon. After all, the Phillies did have the bases loaded with no one out in the bottom of the ninth, yet failed to score – again.

San Francisco closer Sergio Romo found himself in that predicament after a leadoff infield error, a bunt base hit by Cody Asche (for his first big-league hit) and a hit-by-pitch for John Mayberry Jr.

That left it up to Laynce Nix, Carlos Ruiz and pinch-hitter Erik Kratz to get a run home. No problem, right?

Well...no.

Nix hit a weak pop up to shallow right that wouldn’t score anyone. Then Ruiz hit a soft fly ball to left field that could have been considered worth a gamble. John McDonald, however, stayed put.

“I saw (Roger Kieschnick) back up and get in position (to make a strong throw home),” McDonald said. “I’m not the fastest guy, but I was tagging up if I thought I had any shot to score there.”

Kratz, needing to get on base, hit a routine grounder to short to end it.

It was awful, but it only had to happen thanks to Papelbon, an unpopular clubhouse presence who further alienated teammates with his recent comments.

He didn’t let the offense off the hook for the bottom of the ninth, either.

“What gets me is we lost the game,” Papelbon said. “If we win the game, it’s a little bit easier of a pill to swallow. Honestly, I thought after we loaded the bases it was going to be one of those wacky nights …”

Earlier this season, Papelbon made a weird, rambling comment after the Boston Marathon bombings where he mentioned his concern that President Obama was taking away his guns. Perhaps the Phillies can cut a deal with Obama where he simply takes away Papelbon.

It seems moments like these have followed Hamels (4-13) around. With eight scoreless innings, he nudged his ERA below four runs (3.87) for the first time this season. Yet the losing in his starts continued, as the Phils fell to 6-17 when he’s on the mound.

Hamels had a right to hammer Papelbon for letting this win escape, yet he didn’t.

“I don’t like to lose. I didn’t sign here to lose,” Hamels said in an empathetic tone toward the loose-lipped closer. “A lot of the thoughts that we have, don’t get voiced...and sometimes they do get voiced and it can look really bad. But I think all of us want to win and are capable of winning, but it isn’t happening and I think it’s very frustrating. It’s the human nature of not being able to control our emotions and things creep out that probably don’t need to be said.

“But at the same time, things obviously have to be addressed, because if we keep going down this path there will have to be changes. That’s myself included. I have to go out and win and be the best pitcher I can every five days and be a part, and if I’m not a part then I’m a culprit, and I don’t want to be a culprit. So we have to get back to winning ways and plug away.

“No one wants to be in the position (Papelbon) was in. He wants to win. He wants to close games badly, and it’s unfortunate when you can’t get it done.”

The ninth inning wrecked a fabulous effort by Hamels, who zipped through eight innings after having his pitch count creep up early. However, as has been the case far too much this season for the $144 million southpaw, even being every bit as good as that contract says often isn’t enough.

“It’s unfortunate. Sometimes it’s hard to dig yourself out of a hole as a team,” Hamels said. “We’ve just not been able to do it collectively. It’s just a mistake here and there...I think that’s what kind of happens. We know how to win, we are capable of winning, but you can’t force the issue.